"People want jobs. You don’t beat up people. I mean, I don’t agree with their politics or philosophically, but, you know, they’re Americans…paying their taxes…They’re not breaking the law. They’re providing jobs," Manchin said of the brothers.

He explained that politicians spewing vitriol, such as Sen. Harry Reid’s (D., Nev.) attacks on the Koch brothers, do nothing to advance the American cause. "Right, wrong or indifferent, whether you like the politicians, or not. There’s people who don’t like the extreme Democrat politics or extreme Republican politics, we got to start being Americans again," Manchin said.